Fundamentals for Sewing: Learn the basic skills for sewing

Sewing Room Safety goes through some important safety tips for being in, around and using your sewing room. The iron and sewing machine are also specifically covered. The aim of this lecture is to help you reduce or eliminate any potential hazards that could cause yourself, your family, your children or your pets injury. Print and complete the Sewing Room Safety resource as revision for your Quiz at the end of the section!

Basic Sewing Terms covers the most useful sewing words (and their meanings) that you will need to know and understand for this Fundamentals For Sewing course. Sewing is easier when you have a bank of knowledge to assist you. Print and refer back to the Glossary of Terms resource anytime you need. Try to answer the Basic Sewing Terms questions in the Quiz at the end of the section from memory though!

How can one go about learning how to sew without knowing or having access to the important Tools of the Trade! This lecture covers the most useful pieces of sewing equipment and their functions that you will need for this Fundamentals For Sewing course. Print and complete the Textiles Equipment: Tools of the Trade resource for a handy reference sheet. Make sure you know your Tools of the Trade for the Quiz!

Every sewing machine has the same components in roughly the same areas. Knowing the names (and the purpose of) each part is essential for the correct threading and use of the sewing machine. Print and complete the Anatomy of a Sewing Machine worksheet. If you have a user manual for your machine, this is the perfect time to get it out and have a look at the anatomy of your specific sewing machine.

You can’t thread a sewing machine fully without a bobbin! While all sewing machines have a slightly different way to wind the bobbin for the all important bottom thread, this video clip runs through how to do it from start to finish on a Janome. This will give you an idea of how to do it and what it should look like. Again, use your own sewing machine manual to know the specifics for your personal sewing machine.

When first learning how to sew, threading the sewing machine correctly can often be the most complicated process of the whole project. All sewing machines will be slightly different in their set up, so it is always best to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines in your sewing machine’s manual. However, this video clip will guide you through the process step by step and can be easily replicated on any sewing machine.

When the eye of the needle is too small or the eyesight is no longer what it used to be, we can use a manual needle threader to help move the upper thread from the front, through the eye and out the back of the needle.

With the advancements in sewing machine technology, manufacturers have thought about how to make the most frustrating part of threading the sewing machine, slightly easier. The automatic needle threader on most sewing machines often take a little while to learn its intricacies, but once it becomes muscle memory, threading the needle is quick and easy. This video clip runs through exactly how to thread the needle using the automatic needle threader. 

Just as there are many different types of fabric, there are many different types of needles for your sewing machine. Some fabrics require specialised needles while for others, a universal can be used. Follow this lecture to learn about the different parts of a sewing machine needle (print and fill in the Anatomy of a Sewing Machine Needle worksheet as you go!), the types of needles available and how to select the most appropriate needle for your fabric/project. There is also an ADDITIONAL Needle Reference Size Guide for you to take to the Haberdashery store when purchasing fabric!

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been sewing or how experienced you are, if the needle on your sewing machine is bent, blunt, burred, broken or wrong for the fabric, it will result in snags, damage or uneven/skipped stitches. This lecture covers the 3 main reasons why the needle will need to be changed on a sewing machine:

1. The needle has broken

2. The needle has become dull or bent

3. There is a wide range of fabrics and some require specialised needles

And how to change it on your machine. This is one area where all sewing machines are identical!

Sometimes it can be overwhelming walking into a fabric shop and seeing all the different fabrics you could use. This lecture runs through the 3 main types of fabric (woven, knitted and non-woven) as well as their general uses to help you pick the right type of fabric for your projects. Print and complete the worksheet to solidify your understanding.

Just as a sewing machine and needle have different components, so too does a piece of fabric. This lecture explains all the different parts to fabric and how best to use them for a professional looking end project. Print and complete the Fabric Anatomy worksheet to consolidate your understanding.

Once we’ve chosen our fabric and our sewing machine needle we need to transfer or mark out our project pattern onto our piece of fabric. There a 4 main types of tools that you could use:

1. Fabric Pens

2. Fabric Pencils

3. Tailor’s Chalk

4. Chalk Wheels

This lecture goes through the pros and cons of each so you can select the one that will work best for your projects.

There might be many parts of your project that you need to hold together….pattern to the fabric, fabric to fabric, strap to a bag, sleeve to a top… the best way to hold everything together is by using pins. This lecture shows you 2 ways to insert pins using a Pearl Headed  type but the process is exactly the same for any other pin you have.

There are just as many types of sewing machine threads as there are needles and they all have a specific purpose. There are 2 main classifications of thread, general and speciality. This lecture goes through each type of thread, explains the fibres they are made from, the pros & cons and the best fabric to use them on. In other words, how to select the best thread for your fabric and project!

Don’t forget to print and complete the Thread worksheet and there’s also an ADDITIONAL Thread Tips reference guide to help you work out when you should be using each thread type.

Once you have chosen the correct type of thread for your fabric and project, you get to choose the colour! There are so many different colours to choose from, should you get one that blends in or one that stands out? This lecture goes through when you should blend in and when you should contrast, as well as the type of lighting to use to determine the correct colour. As an ADDITIONAL EXTRA there is a handy Colour Wheel reference chart to help you select the best colour for your project.

Now to experiment on our sewing machine! In this section we will begin by using an unthreaded sewing machine to sew on paper. This will help us learn to guide (not force!) our project through the presser foot so we stitch exactly where we need to.

Download and print the Paper Sewing Practice Sheets PDF onto A4 paper, one side only. Each page utilises different movements that we need to accomplish in order to keep our ‘stitching’ as close to the lines as we can.

You will need:

• Access to a Printer

• 7 sheets of A4 paper

• Access to the Paper Sewing Practice Sheets PDF document from the downloadable materials section

For this lecture you will be learning how to stitch straight and curved lines.

Once you have accomplished, practised or are comfortable keeping your sewing machine needle moving along the straight and curved lines, we get to add in some Pivots! Pivoting is  changing the stitch direction at a corner or other angled point in the stitching line and is one of the most important elements to understand when sewing with a fully threaded machine. Using pivots can make our sewing look more professional as well as speeding up the amount of time we will spend stitching project pieces together.

Make sure to spend lots of time practising the skills covered in this lecture because you need to be able to pivot correctly on paper before trying it on a fabric sample with a threaded sewing machine.

Ever wanted to know how to make the sewing machine motor move without having to use the hand-wheel? Ever watched a grandparent (or someone else) sewing super fast and wondering how they can do it so quickly and keep everything so neat? You will after this lecture!

When the sewing machine is plugged in and turned on, the foot pedal is what we will use to control the speed of our stitching. While it might seem like great fun to put our foot flat to the floor, it can cause us an injury, make our stitching look messy and our project out of shape especially if we are still learning how to keep our stitching lines straight. It takes a lot more thoughtful practice and control to keep our foot light on the pedal and our stitching slow. Spend some time redoing the Stitch Practice worksheets (on paper) and controlling your speed before moving onto the next lecture.

Now that we have practiced our movement and guiding skills, we get to thread up our sewing machine and put these skills to the test on some fabric!

For this task you will need:

• 1 square of fabric (approximately 15cm x 15cm)

• 2 different coloured threads (1 for the top and 1 for the bobbin)

• Ruler

• Pen

Usually when we sew on fabric we need to have threads that match or blend into the colour of the fabric. In this task, we are using two different colours of thread so we can see what happens with our top and bobbin threads when we sew.

Make sure to print and complete the Stitch Practice worksheet. Use this worksheet to make a written record of the most suitable/average size/best stitch length and width settings for your machine and its different stitches. You will need to use these stitch settings for your projects later in the course.

Oh no! What happens if we went too far forward to do a pivot or our straight stitching along a seam isn’t straight and it’s causing issues on our project! What can we do?! We can get our trusty Unpicker tool and unpick those stitches that are in the wrong spot!

This lecture will show you exactly how to use an unpicker so you don’t take more than the mistake stitches out.

Seam allowance is the space between our stitching and the edge of the fabric. Its width is usually 1cm or 1.5cm depending on the project and the allowance for it on the pattern pieces. If we stitch too close to the edge of the fabric, it can start to unravel through our stitching and create holes in our seams. Too much seam allowance and we will have a lot of wasted fabric and bulky seams. If we have a correct amount of seam allowance and we need to ‘let the seams out’ to make our project slightly bigger or ‘take them in’ to make it slightly smaller in the future, we have the space to unpick and restitch our seams.

By the end of this lecture you will have an understanding about the use of seam allowances and how our sewing machine can help us stitch a seam allowance.

Closed seams stitch the seam allowance together. This type of seam neatens the edges and adds a quality look to your project or garment. This lecture shows you how to stitch a closed seam sample.

You will need:

• 1 square of fabric (15cm x 15cm)

• 2 different colours of thread (1 for the top and 1 for the bobbin)

Open seams are perfect if there is a lot of bulky or thick fabric because you stitch the seam allowance separately. Stitching the seam allowance open stops even more bulk or thickness being added to the seams which can cause your needle to bend or break. This lecture shows you how to stitch an open seam sample.

You will need:

• 1 square of fabric (15cm x 15cm)

• 2 different colours of thread (1 for the top and 1 for the bobbin)

Most seams will have raw edges that need to be finished to prevent them from fraying and pulling the strands of fabric away from your stitching. Most professionals will use a Serger or Overlocker but if you don’t know how to use one or don’t have access to someone who does, the best option is to zig zag over the raw edges of your fabric and seams to put a stop to your fabric fraying. This lecture explains the process.

This is the last section that has you creating fabric samples before we start on our projects. If you are comfortable and adept at everything we have covered so far, keep on moving ahead! If you’re still a little unsure on anything to do with your machine set up or stitching your fabric samples, go back and redo some of the areas you feel you need more practice in.

Unless you are measuring a square or rectangle directly onto your fabric, you will most likely be using a pattern. There are so many different types of patterns to use and locations to get them from, it can be quite confusing! Thankfully there are some common sewing pattern symbols and marks that make reading a pattern a little more easy. This lecture goes through the most common ones.

Print and complete the worksheet after the lecture to solidify your understanding of them.

One of the places to get a lot of projects, patterns and instructions is in a sewing book! This lecture goes through the basic layout of a pattern book, the location of their paper patterns and what should be included in their instructions.

If you are more interested in being able to sew using commercial patterns, in particular garments or clothing, this lecture shows you how to read the envelope that purchased patterns come in. Knowing how to read a pattern envelope accurately can help you purchase the correct project for your skill level as well as the correct size pattern for the person you are sewing it for.

While none of the projects we will make in this course come from a commercial pattern envelope, it is great to develop an understanding of its set-up in case you want to progress to these style of patterns in the future. If using one of these patterns seems too daunting for your skill level and understanding of sewing at the moment, keep a look out for a Sewing from a Commercial Sewing Pattern course by The Sewing Teacher in the future!

Print and complete the Components of a Sewing Pattern Envelope worksheet as you follow the lecture. There is an ADDITIONAL fabric yardage conversion chart which shows the conversions from yards, inches and centimetres to help you with purchasing fabric for these styles of patterns. As an ADDED EXTRA, a Body Measurement Chart for males and females has been included so you can measure yourself (or whoever you want to sew clothing for!) and use those measurements to help you determine the size of pattern you will need based on the pattern envelope sizes.

All commercial patterns that come in the envelope discussed in the previous lecture will have fabric and pattern layout instructions inside the envelope. This lecture mainly covers the 2 ways to fold fabric, lengthwise and crosswise, as well as where to place your pattern pieces. When in doubt, stick close to the edge! Refer back to this lecture if you are having difficulty laying out your fabric and pattern pieces throughout our projects in the next couple of sections.

Once you have laid out your fabric and pinned or transferred your pattern pieces to it, it is time to cut them out! This lecture runs through how best to use your fabric scissors and where to cut, to keep your pattern pieces full size and your cuts accurate.

This lecture DOES NOT cover using a rotary cutter as this will be covered in a separate course. Besides, the basics of a beginner sewer’s tool box is always a pair of fabric scissors!

If you feel you are lacking the fine motor skills of using scissors in general, please practice cutting out the shapes and along the lines on the Stitch Practice (paper) worksheets (from earlier in the course) and use a pair of craft scissors (never use your fabric scissors to cut paper or tissue paper patterns as it will make them blunt very quickly!). Become comfortable with cutting straight on paper before moving on.

This is an optional step. If you do not wish to make your own pattern for the standard bookmark, you can print and cut out the pattern from the Standard Bookmark Instructions under the resources for the Standard Bookmark Supplies.

To make a very simple pattern that you will use to create your standard bookmark from, you will need:

• 30cm standard ruler

• lead pencil

• ballpoint pen

• craft/paper scissors

• pattern drafting material or paper

The supplies you will need to make a Standard Bookmark include:

• Pattern (cut from the instructions or made with the previous lecture)

• Patterned cotton fabric

• Matching thread (you can choose if you want the thread to blend in or be a contrasting colour)

• Pins

• Fabric Scissors

• Sewing Machine

• 1 piece of ribbon (contrasting or matching the fabric) that is 10cm long

• Tape measure or ruler

This lecture shows you how to pin and cut out the pattern from the fabric. Tick these steps off in the written instructions!

This lecture shows you how to pin the bookmark together and get it ready for stitching. Tick these steps off in the written instructions!

This lecture shows you how to stitch the bookmark together. This is where you get to apply your skill and understanding of neat and even straight stitching and pivots! Tick these steps off in the written instructions.

This lecture shows you how to clips corners (to remove bulk) and invert/turn your (almost complete!) bookmark through so the right sides of the fabric are now on the outside. Tick these steps off in the written instructions.

Now for the final couple of steps to finish your bookmark! This lecture shows you how to close the opening that you used to turn your bookmark through and topstitch around the edge so the gap closure doesn’t look obvious. Tick off the last steps on the written instructions and you are ready to use (or gift!) your Standard Bookmark.

This is one pattern that The Sewing Teacher recommends you make from pattern drafting material, an old bedsheet or some butchers paper because you’ll be wanting to make everyone a pillowcase by the time you get through this project!

This lecture shows you how to how to make 2 rectangles to use as your pattern. Find exact size requirements in the written instructions.

This lecture runs through everything you will need to make your Standard Envelope Pillowcase, including:

• 1.5 meters of pre-washed fabric

• Matching thread

• Pins

• Fabric Scissors

• Tape Measure

• Sewing Machine

• Iron

This is one project where pre-washing your fabric first is a must! Some fabrics tend to shrink when they are washed and you don’t want this to happen after you’ve already made (or gifted!) your pillowcase. This pillowcase is designed to hold a standard sized pillow inside it, if it shrinks after you’ve made it, the pillow won’t be able to fit snuggly back into it again.

To pre-wash fabric:

1. Place the fabric in the washing machine (by itself or with like colours)

2. Add your regular detergent

3. Set the machine settings to a short cool wash (30 degrees celsius or below)

4. Line dry

5. Iron out the wrinkles before applying the pattern pieces

Some fabrics (like cotton) will always shrink in warm to hot water. Only ever wash your cotton projects and pillowcases in cool water to avoid the never ending shrinkage from occurring!

This lecture shows you how to pin and cut out the pattern from the fabric. Tick these steps off in the written instructions!

This lecture shows you how to pin and sew the hems for the opening the pillow is pushed into.

Sometimes hems are one of the last sections to sew, in this project they are one of the first! Sewing them at this stage makes it easier as later on these hems don’t match up with each other at the end.

Tick off these steps in the written instructions.

This lecture shows you how to create the envelope flap that will hold the pillow inside the pillowcase; and where to pin before stitching it all together. Tick off these steps in the written instructions.

This lecture shows you how to sew your pillowcase together. It applies your skills of straight stitching, pivots and seam allowance zigzag. Tick these steps off in the written instructions.

Now for the final step so your pillowcase can be used straight away! This lecture shows you how to clip the corners and invert/turn the pillowcase through so the right side of the fabric is now on the outside. Tick this step off on the written instructions. Insert your pillow and you’re good to have a quick nap on it before our next project!